A new main road north of Napier, alongside the railway line from Eskdale to Tutira, is under consideration.
Hawke's Bay Regional Councillor and Regional Transport Committee chairman Alan Dick said a better road north of Napier was a planning priority for the region and part of a central government plan to improve road access through to Opotiki.
He said the road north was the most vulnerable part of the Hawke's Bay roading network and a governance group of mayors and stakeholders met in Wairoa earlier this year for improving the Hawke's Bay to Bay of Plenty route but "detailed study work has not yet commenced".
Last week a rail and road familiarisation field trip inspected the route from Napier to Wairoa along the rail corridor.
Sixteen officials participated, with the group splitting its travel one way by rail and the other by road. He said they were looking at the condition of the rail line and the rail corridor "to get an appreciation of how practicable the proposal is to convert the rail corridor to a rail and road corridor between Eskdale and Tutira".